Catalyst for change

Letter)

Editor: It's a given that the most powerful and influential individuals in the world today are our political leaders. However, I think it is also a given that the second most powerful and influential individuals are our religious leaders. Why is it then, that with so many wars being fought in the name of religion, our religious leaders have been unable (unwilling?) to use their influence to bring about an end to these conflicts?

I am 60 years of age and have not had a formal religious affiliation for the past 30 years. I investigated a wide spectrum of mainstream and not-so-mainstream religions, and discovered that all of them presented me with the same problem - the concept that each religion believes itself to be the "correct" one, while all the others are "incorrect." It is the perpetuation of this ideological narrow-mindedness that I believe is the core reason why religious leaders cannot or will not work together to bring about the peace so fundamentally necessary for the survival of humankind.

Imagine what would happen in Northern Ireland, for example, if all the Protestant ministers and Catholic priests used their influence on their respective congregants/parishioners. Imagine what would happen in the Middle East if all the rabbis and Islamic clerics used their influence on their respective adherents. Imagine if these religious/spiritual leaders said to their people, "Enough is enough! There is to be no more war in the name of God/Allah/Christ, or anything/anyone else. We are more than Catholics and Protestants; we are more than Jews and Muslims. We are one human family, and if we are to survive on this planet, we must live as one human family."

Why have they not done so?

The political/diplomatic process does not work, of that we have had ample evidence. No matter how many calls for peace and restraint are made by the politicians and diplomats, those calls never translate into anything in the way of permanent peace; witness the Middle East. Besides, the politicians have a different agenda, one that does not necessarily include humankind living in peaceful co-existence with one another. Witness the ethnic cleansing that has occurred on more occasions than I care to think about.

In an effort to spark some action, I am asking you to publish my e-mail address, larry_singer101@ hotmail.com, so that I can serve as a contact for individuals who share these views. Maybe, just maybe, we can be a catalyst for positive change in a world that so desperately needs it.

Larry Singer
Vancouver

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